Petersburg to Spanish Fort
Aliases: Hancock’s Ferry, Johnnie Rich’s Ferry, Petersburg Ferry
Longest Ferry, possibly Old Spanish Fort Ferry
click on photos to enlarge
Aliases: Hancock’s Ferry, Johnnie Rich’s Ferry, Petersburg Ferry
Longest Ferry, possibly Old Spanish Fort Ferry
click on photos to enlarge
Tommie Hancock and his wife Bethany resided in the Chickasaw Nation and ran the ferry from ca. 1876 until his death in 1881. He was buried at Spanish Fort.
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Bethany Hancock cooked meals for travelers crossing at the ferry. She died in 1879 and was buried at Spanish Fort.
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John Hancock ran the ferry for a time after the death of his parents Tommie and Bethany. Residing in the CN he ran the ferry for a period in the 1880s. .
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Taken in the 19teens, the photo show Ira Eakin seated in a Model T with Mike Bourland standing on the right. A Sandra Wickham photo.
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The 1898 map show the Red River continuing on its course flowing southeast approximately 2.5 miles before making an abrupt turn north northwest making a candy cane 180 degree turn south running hard against the Chickasaw bank. This deep channel ran through a rock outcropping at the edge of a hollow known to locals as “Boat Hollar” with the approximate ferry coordinates 33.936202, -97.591963. In use from around 1876, Spanish Fort lies roughly 1.5 miles southwest of the ferry crossing. In the Chickasaw Nation the road headed southeast a couple miles before heading straight west roughly 3.5 miles to Courtney. During the late 1870s more people settled on the west end of the Flat across the river from Spanish Fort than those who settled on the east end at Courtney. The west end of the Flat would not gain the name Petersburg until the early 1890s and referenced their location as Spanish Fort, Chickasaw Nation. Tommie and Bethany Hancock arrived at Spanish Fort in the CN in 1875 and “ran” the ferry boat. Stories handed down in the Hancock family tell Bethany of how Bethany often cooked meals for travelers who were crossing at the ferry. On one occasion well known outlaws stopped by. They never said a word, just put their coins for payment on the table when they were done and went on their way. (Earl Tisdell, descendant) Bethany Hancock died in 1879 and Tommie Hancock died in 1881, both are buried across the river at Spanish Fort. After their deaths their son John Hancock and his wife Laura McCarty reportedly ran the ferry for a number of years during the 1880s. John Hancock had first arrived at Courtney Flat in 1872. Family stories tell of how during the years that John Hancock ran the ferry he would at times have to grab his gun in the middle of the night to scare away would be horse thieves from the stables. (Cora Keck Hancock, Nocona, TX descendant) Referencing back to The History of Spanish Fort, family records show that John Rich secured a charter to run the ferry in 1879. John Rich’s kiln for the manufacture of bricks was located on the lower bluffs east of Spanish Fort and definitely in closer proximity to this ferry. The ferry was referenced during this period as The Spanish Fort Ferry. Again, hopefully a review of the actual charter may help determine the location. John Hancock may have “run” the ferry for a number of years in the 1880s before his family moved from the area prior to 1900. The following account by pioneer resident Tom Dorsett is the most specific source differentiating the ferries of Petersburg and Grady and attaching operators Rich and Morris. Dorsett states, “Hobbs Ferry was on the Hobbs Crossing on Mud Creek; Johnnie Rich operated a ferryboat at the crossing at Petersburg and Bob Morris operated one at the crossing at Grady. |
There was a place at Hobbs Ferry [on Mud Creek] that could be forded sometimes, also at Spanish Fort, Bore Tree [Board Tree], Courtney Flats, Yellow Bank and Red River Station; most all of these could be used for fording places when the river was normal.” (IPH Int. # 10547 Tom Dorsett)
John Rich died in 1897 and his son Dick Rich and his grandson Haram Rich ran the ferry for a time afterwards. It is possible that the Rich family may have run the ferry at different locations over time. In 1891 the establishment of a post office declared the name of the community as Petersburg. In 1900, near the time of our Chickasaw Nation map references, the census record reflects thirty-eight year old Petersburg resident William R. Stowe as the “ferryman”. Caleb and Susan Longest arrived at Spanish Fort in 1894 and the following year settled across the river at Petersburg. The Longest family did run the ferry at one time but the family is unsure of the details. With the Chickasaw land allotments and subsequent purchase of private land Caleb Longest acquired the land adjoining the river and the location of the ferry. The 1905 edition map (see Research Resources, Period Maps, this website) based on surveys in 1898, and 1902-1904, shows that river drastically changed course between 1898 and 1905, moving a good distance westward away from the vicinity of “Boat Hollar” and away from the Chickasaw bank. Thus the old deep and narrow channel, where the Petersburg Ferry operated since the first settlers arrived in the 1870s, was replaced with a wider shallow river to the west and unfit for a ferry boat crossing. A new deep channel for the Petersburg Ferry crossing was located a little more than a mile south against the Chickasaw bank at roughly GPS coordinates 33.936855, -97.586906. We are unsure of the date the ferry ceased to operate we would deduct sometime in the 1920s with the building of the Oscar and Courtney bridges. From here the river meanders in an “S” shape some ten miles or so until it reaches the mouth of Oklahoma’s Mud Creek. The Sparks family notes that their ancestor John Taylor Sparks arrived at Courtney Flats in 1887. Sparks settled on the Bill Bourland place and reportedly ran the ferry for ten years. Our research shows that Chickasaw Bill Bourland’s place ca. 1887 was located centrally about halfway between Courtney and Petersburg. During the 1890s however, the Bourland place was located at Petersburg. The question arises which ferry did Sparks run: the Petersburg or the Courtney? (Story by Scott Black) |